Ben Okri – författare

The second book in the trilogy which began with the Booker prize-winning The Famished Road.'A love story and an account of the conflict between the parties of the Rich and Poor... Okri's voice is all his own' IndependentHaving outwitted death, Azaro, the spirit child, remains in the land of the Living. Oppression and violence continue to plague the city, and while political factions battle, bar owner Madame Koto backs the 'Party of the Rich' with magical, bewitching force. But for Azaro, his adventure is tied up with his parents, and so his story takes on yet another heroic adventure to save them both from the forces of the world. 'Ben Okri writes beautifully...a triumph of inspiration over the everyday' The Times

To enter the world of Ben Okri's stories is to surrender to a new reality. Set in the chaotic streets of Lagos and the jungle heart of Nigeria, all the laws of cause and effect, fact and fiction, are suspended. It is a world where the lives of the powerless veer terrifyingly close to nightmare. In rich, lyrical, almost hallucinatory prose Ben Okri guides us through the fabulous and the mundane, the serene and the randomly violent. The unrelenting Nigerian heat and the implacable darkness of the black-out and the military curfew are the backdrops for his characters each finding their own ways to survive. We witness their dogged resistance to impotence, their unquenchable humour and their insistence on the possibility of love in the face of terror. Written with the lucid clarity and logic of dream, Stars of the New Curfew is a book of visionary imagination.

Dreams are the currency of Okri's writing, particularly in this first book of poems, An African Elegy, but also in his books of short stories and prize-winning novel The Famished Road. Okri's dreams are made on the stuff of Africa's colossal economic and political problems, and reading the poems is to experience a constant succession of metaphors of resolution in both senses of the word. Virtually every poem contains an exhortation to climb out of the African miasma, and virtually every poem harvests the dream of itself with an upbeat restorative ending' - Giles Foden, Times Literary Supplement

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE ‘So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use’The narrator, Azaro, is an abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. He is born into a world of poverty, ignorance and injustice, but Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute. The tension between the land of the living, with its violence and political struggles, and the temptations of the carefree kingdom of the spirits propels this latter-day Lazarus's story. Despite belonging to a spirit world made of enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the Living: to feel it, endure it, know it and love it. This is his story.‘In a magnificent feat of sustained imaginative writing, Okri spins a tale that is epic and intimate at the same time. The Famished Road rekindled my sense of wonder. It made me, at age 50, look at the world through the wide eyes of a child’ Michael Palin

An in-depth look at a public art project by David Hammons with an overview of the enigmatic artist’s career  Published to commemorate David Hammons’s (b. 1943) public art project Day’s End, located in New York City, this book documents the sculpture and offers broader context into Hammons’s enigmatic work. In 2014, Hammons sent the Whitney Museum of American Art a sketch for a monument to Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–1978), paying homage to Matta-Clark’s legendary Day’s End (1975)—an industrial, cathedral-like space of altered architecture—once located near today’s Whitney in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Completed in 2021, Hammons’s work, also titled Day’s End, was realized by the Whitney in collaboration with Hudson River Park, and is on permanent view. One of the most important artists working in the United States, Hammons makes art across mediums, often outside traditional venues. In addition to photographic documentation, the book includes essays on the origins of Day’s End, Hammons’s career scope, and a contribution by poet Ben Okri.Distributed for the Whitney Museum of American Art

Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri, in collaboration with artist Rosemary Clunie, offers journeys into the human spirit for our times. Is everyone an artist? Does the condition of the artist apply in some way to all of us? 'There comes a time in the life of every artist when they must decide whether they are happy in jail. They must decide whether to attain freedom and risk the life out there.' The True Artist Breaks Out of Jail combines the fiction, essays and poetry of Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri with artworks made in collaboration with painter Rosemary Clunie. Extending the possibilities of text and image, Okri and Clunie envision a bold and fresh journey through a world in urgent need of imaginative renewal. As personal freedoms and political rights become increasingly restricted, they call on us to push past imposed limitations – both as creatives and as individuals. Featuring thirty-two paintings, The True Artist Breaks Out of Jail speaks to the creative in all of us, highlighting the importance of art within our lives and encouraging a mindset of originality and freedom. Its narratives and images are a raw response to our times, with subjects ranging from war and climate change to authenticity and truth, to the wounds and wonders of the psyche. What emerges is a powerful collection that explores the nature of art, imagination and the human spirit.

'[A] whimsical tale of transformation... magic is essential, and Okri can spin it.' Guardian'Full of rich hallucinatory imagery and enjoyably vibrant symbolism' Irish TimesHearts will be healed and hearts broken, but no one will leave this festival as they arrived…Viv has turned heartbreak into spectacle: a one-night-only masked festival at a French château, marking the anniversary of her first husband’s departure. Guests roam the moonlit woods in search of reinvention, all waiting for Madame Sosostris, the elusive clairvoyant of The Waste Land, rumoured to appear after decades in hiding.But as midnight nears, disguises slip, emotions ignite and Viv’s carefully planned celebration begins to unravel.Enchanting and unsettling, this midsummer tale explores love, illusion and the strange transformations of a single night.

''[A] whimsical tale of transformation... magic is essential, and Okri can spin it.'' Guardian''Full of rich hallucinatory imagery and enjoyably vibrant symbolism'' Irish Times What do you do when your heart has been made a wasteland by love?Viv, who''s in the House of Lords, had the idea for the festival on the twentieth anniversary of the day her first husband left her. Six months later, crowds descend on the grounds of a dreamlike chateau in the South of France, avidly awaiting the experience of a lifetime, Viv''s inaugural Festival for the Broken-Hearted. Everyone is in fancy dress. No one knows who anyone is. They wander the beautiful woods with just one night to change everything. And to crown it all, a very special guest is expected: world-renowned clairvoyant and fortune-teller Madame Sosostris, known as the wisest woman in Europe, and not seen since the pages of T.S. Eliot''s The Waste Land. She will attend for one night only. But will she actually appear at all, or will Viv''s carefully orchestrated festival fall to pieces? Will Viv and her husband make it through the night? Will anyone else? Part vision, part mystery, this story of a midsummer night''s madness is also an homage to Eliot''s famous poem, in Ben Okri''s inimitable style, as alive with echoes and reverberations as the enchanted forest itself. Think Ingmar Bergman meets William Shakespeare, with a dash of Mozart. Hearts will be healed, and hearts broken, but nobody will leave this festival exactly as they arrived.

'[A] whimsical tale of transformation... magic is essential, and Okri can spin it.' Guardian'Full of rich hallucinatory imagery and enjoyably vibrant symbolism' Irish Times What do you do when your heart has been made a wasteland by love?Viv, who’s in the House of Lords, had the idea for the festival on the twentieth anniversary of the day her first husband left her. Six months later, crowds descend on the grounds of a dreamlike chateau in the South of France, avidly awaiting the experience of a lifetime, Viv’s inaugural Festival for the Broken-Hearted.Everyone is in fancy dress. No one knows who anyone is. They wander the beautiful woods with just one night to change everything. And to crown it all, a very special guest is expected: world-renowned clairvoyant and fortune-teller Madame Sosostris, known as the wisest woman in Europe, and not seen since the pages of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. She will attend for one night only. But will she actually appear at all, or will Viv’s carefully orchestrated festival fall to pieces? Will Viv and her husband make it through the night? Will anyone else?Part vision, part mystery, this story of a midsummer night’s madness is also an homage to Eliot's famous poem, in Ben Okri’s inimitable style, as alive with echoes and reverberations as the enchanted forest itself. Think Ingmar Bergman meets William Shakespeare, with a dash of Mozart.Hearts will be healed, and hearts broken, but nobody will leave this festival exactly as they arrived.

When the world ends, only the underground mysteries will save us A great wall is rising on the horizon and a foreign army is massing on the borders of the small country of Nevereach. As invaders prepare to smash the last of the resistance, three unlikely heroes emerge from the exhausted populace.Mel, Rosa and Apibus, driven by the loss of loved ones, inspired by old stories and guided by a mysterious star, set out to save their world by rousing the sleeping warriors. But before they can do that, they must find the witch who alone knows how to wake these mythical figures. Travelling across a perilous landscape, encountering challenge after challenge, this could be called a cautionary tale for the three, and the reader, but it's more than that it's a journey, a revelation and an inspiration.Brilliantly conjured from the unique imagination of the poet, novelist, and activist Ben Okri, you will find inside these pages a world where the greatest enemy is not the tyrant forcing his soldiers on, but the dark forces draining people's will to resist.Features stunning interior illustrations.

When the world ends, only the underground mysteries will save us…A great wall is rising on the horizon and a foreign army is massing on the borders of the small country of Nevereach. As invaders prepare to smash the last of the resistance, three unlikely heroes emerge from the exhausted populace.Mel, Rosa and Apibus, driven by the loss of loved ones, inspired by old stories and guided by a mysterious star, set out to save their world by rousing the sleeping warriors. But before they can do that, they must find the witch who alone knows how to wake these mythical figures.Travelling across a perilous landscape, encountering challenge after challenge, this could be called a cautionary tale for the three, and the reader, but it’s more than that – it’s a journey, a revelation and an inspiration.Brilliantly conjured from the unique imagination of the poet, novelist, and activist Ben Okri, you will find inside these pages a world where the greatest enemy is not the tyrant forcing his soldiers on, but the dark forces draining people’s will to resist.Features stunning interior illustrations.

When the world ends, only the underground mysteries will save us…A great wall is rising on the horizon and a foreign army is massing on the borders of the small country of Nevereach. As invaders prepare to smash the last of the resistance, three unlikely heroes emerge from the exhausted populace.Mel, Rosa and Apibus, driven by the loss of loved ones, inspired by old stories and guided by a mysterious star, set out to save their world by rousing the sleeping warriors. But before they can do that, they must find the witch who alone knows how to wake these mythical figures.Travelling across a perilous landscape, encountering challenge after challenge, this could be called a cautionary tale for the three, and the reader, but it’s more than that – it’s a journey, a revelation and an inspiration.Brilliantly conjured from the unique imagination of the poet, novelist, and activist Ben Okri, you will find inside these pages a world where the greatest enemy is not the tyrant forcing his soldiers on, but the dark forces draining people’s will to resist.Features stunning interior illustrations.

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.‘The hero of this novel finds what he did not seek, and goes where he did not intend to go. As I did in writing it. I set out to find one thing, but found another.’ BEN OKRIIn this disarmingly beautiful modern fable with an ancient origin, a young man finds himself living among invisible beings who have built a utopia based on one principle: that we must repeat every experience until we live it properly and fully for the first time.'Beautiful. A new creation myth' Daily Telegraph'Amazing. I think this is as close as you can get to reliving the experience of a bedtime story' Guardian

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.A group of world-weary travellers discover the meaning of life in a mysterious mountain village. Eight film-makers arrive at a small Swiss hotel on the shores of a luminous lake. Above them, strewn with lights that twinkle in the darkness, looms the towering Rigi mountain.Over the course of three days and two nights, the travellers will find themselves drawn into the mystery of the mountain reflected in the lake. One by one, they will be disturbed, enlightened, and transformed, each in a different way.The Age of Magic has begun. Unveil your eyes.

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.In The Comic Destiny, Ben Okri brings together poetry and story in a fascinating new form, the ‘stoku’, which offers a key to the true spirit of our times. Refined over many years, these stokus are deceptively simple. They are to be slowly savoured: a new kind of music is being played. They point towards a deeper truth, a more transcendent way of looking at our existence.Each tale is a tiny epic, a delicate world in itself. They flow easily, but burn slowly. When strung together they form a necklace of enigmas, and offer unusual glimpses of freedom.

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.In our times of crisis The mind has its powers.A powerful collection of poems by Ben Okri, focusing on subjects such as the refugee crisis, racism, Grenfell and the coronavirus pandemic, bringing together many of Okri’s most acclaimed and politically-charged poems.Including poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barack Obama, Amnesty and more, this is a uniquely powerful collection that blends anger and tenderness with Ben Okri’s inimitable vision.

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.In a world uncomfortably like our own, a young woman called Amalantis is arrested for asking a question: Who is the Prisoner?When Amalantis disappears, her lover Karnak goes looking for her. He searches desperately at first, then with a growing realization. To find Amalantis, he must first understand the meaning of her question. Karnak’s search leads him into a terrifying world of lies, oppression and fear at the heart of which lies the Prison. Then Karnak discovers that he is not the only one looking for the truth.The Freedom Artist is an impassioned plea for justice and a penetrating examination of how freedom is threatened in a post-truth society, a powerful and haunting call to arms.

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.‘A single line can lead the mind to terraces of contemplation. Naturally it depends on the line and the view…’This is a collection of exquisitely crafted essays by Ben Okri, exploring diverse themes such as childhood and creativity, beauty, censorship, art and politics.These are responses to the world and the times we live in. They ask unsettling questions. They provoke thoughts and make us dream.‘Profound and enchanting’ The Times‘Grapples with deep, elemental issues’ Granta

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.‘This earth that we love is in grave danger because of us. Forests are becoming legends, rare as unicorns...’If we continue to live as we do now, there will be no world left for us to fix, Ben Okri argues in this evocative collection. He imagines messages – sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming – exhorting us to change now.Combining fiction, essays and poetry, Tiger Work displays Okri’s classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic.‘An artist’s ardent plea for change’ KirkusA GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.In this lyrical novel about art and enlightenment, a group of angry and ill-assorted people accept a cryptic invitation. Inspired by a painting and financed by a mysterious benefactor, they set off to discover the real Arcadia. Or what remains of it. Their journey begins in ignorance and chaos at Waterloo Station and takes them through superstition and myth to harmony. In the Louvre, in front of Poussin’s masterpiece, known as ‘Et in Arcadia Ego’, they begin to understand.

A Guardian Children's Book of the Year An environmental fairytale made for our times, written to be read by adults and children, from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Famished Road. In the forest near Mangoshi's village in Africa there grows a very special flower. Mangoshi knows that only this flower can save her mother's life. It can save her village too. All she has to do is find it.Ben Okri and Diana Ejaita have created a magical world of beauty and colour, an enchanting array of extraordinary trees, each with its own personality and voice. The chief among them, the great baobab, invites us into his branches to travel the world and see for ourselves the perils of not listening to nature. All around us, forests are vanishing, and no one is listening.'It was a sheer joy to be able to read this. It is mysterious and magical and true. Children and those who read it to them will love it and long remember it. The illustrations are woven wonderfully around the words; the trees are with you, telling it, writing it. Once read we will know never to take trees or leaves for granted again. A powerful symphony of a story that will resonate for every reader. We hear the wind in the trees on every page. We only have to listen' MICHAEL MORPURGO

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.‘All I wanted to do was to remind myself at all times to just sing my song. To just sing it through all the difficulties and silences’Twelve of Ben Okri’s most controversial non-fiction pieces form this collection on the theme of freedom.Ranging from the personal to the analytical, covering subjects such as art, politics, storytelling and creativity, A Way of Being Free confirms Okri’s place as one of the most inspiring of contemporary writers.‘Thoughtful, concise, cultivated and clear’ Scotland on Sunday

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.Playful, frightening, even shocking– the stories in this collection blur the lines between illusion and reality, between darkness and magic. This is a writer at the height of his powers, making the reader think, making them laugh, and sometimes making them want to look away while holding their gaze.Stories here are set in London, in the Andes, in a printer’s shop in Lagos. The characters include a murderer, a detective, a man in a cave, a prison door, and the author himself. There are twenty-three stories in all. Each one will make you wonder if what you see in the world is all there is...‘Infinite in impact, conveying meanings that transcend mere definitions’ Los Angeles Review of Books

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature.‘I wanted to find the right balance between the unforced beauty of art and the rough truth of life’ BEN OKRISet in 1970s Nigeria, in a country trying to come to terms with the atrocity of its recent civil war, Dangerous Love introduces us to Omovo, a young artist. Omovo is living in a compound with his father and his father’s second wife when he falls passionately and hopelessly in love with Ifeyinwa, a beautiful young married woman.An epic of daily life, this is a story of star-crossed lovers, separated not by their families but by the very circumstances of their lives.‘One of the world’s finest writers’ Options

Explore the extraordinary imagination of Booker Prize-winner and visionary author Ben Okri – one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature. ‘I sing a new freedom in days of fire’ Freedom is the most precious commodity in the world. This powerful collection explores the beauty contained in each one of us – the freedom of our spirit, the child within. Ben Okri recalls the death of his father, the sacrifices of his mother, the hidden river of Edinburgh, and falling in love. He writes about Virgil and Mozambique, about ringing the bell for freedom, the dreams of Calliope and the full moon. This rich, joyful, exciting collection is a perfect introduction to Okri’s poetry.

Two actors, a thousand characters, and the story of how a kingdom is changed…An epic new adaptation of the 4,000-year-old Egyptian poem about the Warrior King, Sinuhe written by Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri that captures the essence of humanity and the complexities of immigration.This edition of Changing Destiny is published to coincide with the world premiere performance at London’s Young Vic Theatre, directed by Young Vic Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah.